UNDERWORLD + UWGEO

Rifting zones

Romain Beucher

UWGeodynamics approaches model construction in an intuitive way. Here, a realistic rifting zone is elegantly implemented using five materials, a simple horizontal boundary condition, and a viscoplastic rheology defined in a single line of code. The result captures all the classic features of a real rift.

The code is robust enough to handle substantial rheological contrasts, allowing a 'set-and-forget' approach to building models without the need for numerical artifice. In this model, only the 'sticky air' layer is without physical meaning.

The model delivers realistic conjugate faulting which gets more severe with proximity to the rift axis. Application of a horizontal velocity boundary condition on the side walls is enough to trigger rifting at the centre of the domain.